BRUSH
CREEK NURSERY SCHOOL
Newsletter March 2007
Classroom Notes : Parent Teacher Conferences
Evening in Paradise Update : Enrollment News
Summer School : Tax Info
TLC Day : Book It
Parent Speaker Night : Accreditation
Kindergarten : Employee Recognition Program
Classroom Notes
Let’s all hope that the sun decides to join us for most of March. Enough already with the rain!! Spring is definitely on the way and the first flowers are beginning to peek out. We will be talking a lot about growing and all things that sprout. We will do a lot of planting and observe the process of germination.If you have any FAKE spring flowers, or small CLEAN plastic pots you wish to donate, we’ll use them for dramatic play.
Don’t forget that our garden project is getting underway and we still have donations we are looking for to fill up our space. We’re excited to see this project come full circle, and to pick tomatoes and carrots to snack on!!
Can you believe how much your kids have grown since they started school? Talking about sprouting!!!
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Parent Teacher Conferences
It is the time of year that teachers are preparing to give conferences to interested parents. There will be no need to sign up: a teacher will speak to you about scheduling a workable time. The majority of conferences will be held in April and May; however some teachers may get started as early as the end of March. At the conference teachers will discuss your child’s progress, strengths and areas we’re working on. We really encourage you to take advantage of this valuable meeting time. Our teachers are very insightful, and have lots of good information to report back to you. We love to tell you great things about your kids.(back to top)
Evening in Paradise Update
May 18th will be here before you know it…..and we’ll be ready. Fundraising chairs MaryEv Betterly, Lauren Wood, Amy Farmiloe, and Kelly Madsen have been very busy (along with their committee) working on corporate donations and picking up prizes from one end of our county to the other. It’s not too late to tell us of a business or corporate contact….every bit will help us succeed in this effort….Also, if you’d like to help with our class projects please speak up! Don’t forget to mark your calendar; the date will be here before we know it.THANK YOU FOR THE BASKETS!!!! We received a lot of great ones to use in our item packaging. Great!
Class projects are getting underway. Watch for notices of what your child’s class will be making to auction off. We really appreciate everyone’s support to make this year’s EIP the best ever.
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Enrollment News
Our deadline for turning in your requests for next year for CONTINUING students has now passed. Our fall class lists are now posted and we will fill empty spaces with new families.If you or any of your friends plan to send children to BC in the 2008-09 school year (unbelievable, isn’t it?) please make sure to call the school on Monday, May 1st at 8am. This is the very first opportunity to get names on our official waiting list. Anyone with a child turning TWO this year (before Dec. 1) should get on that list!! Even previous parents (who have priority) need to get on the list right away. It could determine if your child gets the class choice you prefer.
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Summer School
Also hard to believe, but summer school enrollment is well underway. Summer school is going to be great this year, so we hope you are planning to send your child for at least one session. Most everything is still open, except KINDERGARTEN READINESS, which IS FULL.Just bring your form to the office to sign up. Remember: WE CANNOT SIGN YOU UP WITHOUT A COMPLETED FORM AND A DEPOSIT. Please don’t ask Linda to put you on a list with money coming later…all paperwork must come in with a deposit.
New families will be able to enroll in early April. You may want to get your form in before then as classes really begin to fill at that time. Don’t let your child miss out!
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Tax Info
Its tax time and many of you will need the schools tax id number. It is94-2297008. Several of you have asked us to provide you with a total of the payments you've made to the school this past year. We CAN happily provide you with a printout of your account that shows your payments, but you will need to add up the payments yourself. This process tends to be a time consuming one for Linda. Thanks. (back to top)TLC Day
Mark your calendars for March 24th and roll up your sleeves as TLC (Tender Loving Care Day) is almost here. This parent-staff workday is a great opportunity to help the school tidy up and complete some long awaited projects while providing some social time for grown ups only. We hope everyone will find a way they would like to participate. This year’s TLC will mostly concentrate on facility clean up, indoors and out. We’ve completed many projects in the last year so we feel a smaller TLC day is in order.Please sign up on the front bulletin board if you can attend or participate in the event. Also located on the board will be jobs we need to complete not necessarily on that day. If you’d like to tackle one of those, you can see Julie or Heather for details. You can come over during school or even on a weekend to complete. Our goal is to have the facility looking great for the March 31st Open House.
Also, thank you to Brian McSweeney for cleaning our gutters. (an early TLC project???)
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"Book It"
During the months of March and April we will be participating in a special reading program sponsored by Pizza Hut. The “Book It” program encourages early literacy and we will do our part by recording how much reading time we log in at school each week. More information will be coming home about this program. At the end, all of the children will receive a certificate for a free mini pizza at Pizza Hut.(back to top)
Parent Speaker Night
Attached to this newsletter is a flyer for our upcoming parent speaker night. Barbara Joy, a wonderful parenting coach, will speak to us on the subject of Positive Discipline. We hope you can all come!(back to top)
Accreditation
Many of you may know that we are accredited through the National Association for the Education of Young Children. We have been proud to have this accreditation for over 20 years now, going through a rigorous process to reaccredit every 4 years.In 2006 the association decided to upgrade their system and implement some new policies and criteria. Brush Creek sent for the materials and Julie attended several seminars and workshops to understand the new system. After a thorough look with the staff and discussion with the Board of Directors we have decided NOT to pursue a re-accreditation. This decision was not a light one. The main reason we made this decision is we see a real shift in the philosophy of the governing body. Things seem to be geared toward much more institutional kinds of environments, and a large element includes standardized normative testing of young children.
We pride ourselves in being a high quality program, and will continue to strive to be the best we can by pursuing other valuable rating systems in place of the NAEYC one. We will keep you posted.
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Kindergarten
Curious about who might be attending the same kindergarten as your child? Heather will be posting a sign up out in the front of school so you can sign up under your child’s future school. That way you can take a look and see who else might be a familiar face in their class next year!(back to top)
Employee Recognition Program
We are
pleased to recognize Heather Miller, Head
Teacher as our next profiled employee.Heather was born in Los Angeles where she spent her first fifteen years. She has three siblings (two sisters and one brother). In 1982 the family relocated to Sonoma County. When they arrived, Heather began attending Santa Rosa High school where she pursued her interest in children and childcare. Her first paid job was at Discoveries Day Care. After graduation, Heather pursued a job at Brush Creek and the rest is history……
Heather was hired in 1986 at a Teacher’s Aide. She continued her education at the JC and received a certificate in Early Childhood Education as well as an Associate of Arts Degree. While working on her education she moved up the ranks at Brush Creek.
Heather shares and delights in the children’s enthusiasm for discovery and learning. She strives to make them feel important and listened to. “Giving children positive guidance and supervision: creating a fun and happy atmosphere: being a positive role model: maintaining positive and open communication with the parents and other teachers are all important to me and my success at work.”
In addition to her work at BCNS, Heather has a busy career at home as a wife and mother. She has
been married over ten years to her husband Tim, who is a licensed general contractor, and they have two boys, Michael and CJ. Both of Heather’s sons are BC alumni!
Heather’s other interests include scrapbooking (she’s very talented at this!), bike riding with her sons and spending time with her family on their houseboat in Redding, California.
We appreciate Heather’s over 20 years of service to Brush Creek. She is a dedicated employee who loves what she does.
Congratulations Heather on being our profiled staff member!
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Summer School : Tax Info : TLC Day : Book It
Parent Speaker Night : Accreditation : Kindergarten : Employee Recognition Program